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College FootballRob Ianello

Akron Fired Football Coach Rob Ianello While He Was on Way to Mother’s Funeral

November 28, 2011 by Larry Brown • Comments
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I don’t know much about Akron’s football program, nor do I know much about ex-coach Rob Ianello. But I do know that there’s a right way of handling business and a wrong way. What Akron reportedly did to Ianello was the wrong way of doing things.

New York Times reporter Pete Thammel said Saturday that Akron fired coach Rob Ianello while he was on his way to his mother’s funeral. Ianello’s mother had died on Tuesday and he and his family were traveling to the funeral when he received the call.

Ianello went 1-11 in each of his seasons as head coach of the Zips and didn’t last two full years as the program’s head coach. It’s hard to argue that someone who goes 2-22 doesn’t deserve to be fired, but Akron certainly needs to work on its timing.

Maybe they wanted to begin their search for new coaches and didn’t want Ianello to hear that they were interviewing new coaches second hand, but they could have waited for a better day.

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